Yangyel Lhaden

The Covid-19 pandemic would change how Bhutanese would celebrate this year’s National Day, as people are expected to stay home but participate virtually.

The virtual participation could be done through social media and LIVE broadcast of virtual show.

A committee formed for National Day celebration (NDCC), a team of four DeSuups calling themselves ‘Team Bhutan’ and a local studio, M-studio’ would bond people through social media.

It facilitated an online bonding through two online challenges and asked people to take the spirit of being Bhutanese and proud to the virtual realm.

A page on social media site, Facebook, dedicated for National Day celebration stated that although the global pandemic changed the way we work, interact and celebrate, we are still strong in spirit and look forward to the celebration.

The two challenges are a ‘Kadrinchey challenge’ where an individual can post a video on Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok explaining what national day means to you and why National Day 2020 is important and also a rendition of the song ‘Druk Zhung Dina’.

Participants should submit their entries latest by December 16 and the best videos would win prizes on the National day under hashtags #Kadrinchey for the kadrinchey challenge, #NDBhutan2020 and #DrukZhungDina for the musical challenge.

NDCC assigned M-Studio’s Choeying Jatsho to facilitate the challenges and other popular movie stars and social media figures to promote it.

M-studio has created a B-pop song for the Kadrinchey challenge where over 4,000 participants took part.

Choeying Jatsho said that to kick start the challenge, they came up with a short B-pop song expressing gratitude to the Wangchuck Dynasty. “This is not for the competition but only a facilitation for people to practice,” he said.

Team Bhutan, which was started to bring communities closer with loving and cohesive Bhutanese community envisioned by His Majesty the King, has created an Instagram filter which reads 113th National Day with a pop-up sticker on the face of a flag of Bhutan and Druk- written in Dzongkha with the background song Druk Zhung Dina.

Team Bhutan’s Yeshey Choden said that most people used Instagram and they wanted to unite Bhutanese on National Day through the initiative with the filter.

Meanwhile, the National Day theme this year is “Past, Present, and Future.”

The participants have made videos in line with the theme and submitted to NDCC.

Team Bhutan is one of the participants and M-studio has facilitated to make three videos and a theme song for Royal Academy of Performing Art’s performance.

In one of the videos, Team Bhutan’s mascot, Dorji the Donggyemtsey, wishes Bhutanese a Happy National Day. There are also videos expressing transitional changes in the way we wear kira, and a poem recitation.  The team hopes their videos get aired on the National Day.